[quote=”seascient” post=1576]In my humble opinion, the closer to natural we can get the better the results.Also, remember that naturally derived acids(eg. tannic) address overall water condition and not just pH. —thanks[/quote]
Yes, I would also prefer the most natural way to acidify water.
But vinegar to me still doesn’t seem to be the most natural way. The water in paro habitats gets it’s special conditions by seeping and trickling through dead plant material on the forest grounds. So for me the next idea to using peat was to try in which way water is affected by bark. I steeped pure pine bark (which I normally use as orchid soil) in rain water. After a week the conductivity hadn’t changed, but the ph-level went from 6 to 5. This effect lasts for a few weeks. This pine bark is very clean and dry – I haven’t tried it with the (in most cases) wet and decaying bark chips which are sold as “bark mulch”.
But clean or not – I think acidifying water by using bark comes closer to natural than using vinegar ………..